Re: Acne

I agree that you want spot treatments and that's it. Use a tiny dab of benzoyl peroxide to the blemish as soon as you can. Use it twice daily. Should it come to a head, use peroxide on it. If it happens to open...on its own...use peroxide followed by a dab of Neosporin ointment. If it's a cyst under the skin, apply ice compacts and just wait it out. Basics of Wound Care i learned as a junior in college as a nursing major. I use it everyday at work and on my own skin at home. ; )

Re: Acne

Not all scrubs are created equal, those with sugar granuals or crushed fruit seed powders can be quite coarse on skin, especially for acne prone skin because the particles are uneven in texture and can tear and irritate skin's texture, causing inflammation and more issues than you started with.

If you're dead on trying or utilizing an exfoliator for acne prone skin that has physical particles, try using one with jojoba or polishing beads like Peter Thomas Roth (which makes a basic formula and one for acne prone skin) or even Boscia's Facial Smoothing Polish, which has sugar polymers which are soft and won't grind away at your skin.

Re: Acne

I agree with Drrragon, A spot treatment is the best route to go. You wouldn't want to change your whole routine for just one to two here and there. I love Murads line, the spot treatment is very effective for me. And i also use the Exfoliating Gel acne treatment as a spot treatment and they are both excellent.

Re: Acne

I use Burt's Bees Natural Acne Solutions Purifying Gel Cleanser. i recently started breaking randomly all over my face and after using this for a week allll of my blemishes were either very diminished or gone! I will never try something else now that I found this!

Re: Acne

I had fantastic results with Mario Badescu's Drying Lotion. It dries up some pimples overnight and with bigger cysts it at least reduces their size and speeds healing. Unfortunately its like my skin became immune to it after several months and it stopped working.

I think it's worth a try though to see if it works for you! Kate Somerville Eradikate has the same ingredients -

Bye Bye Blemish is identical to Mario Badescu's Drying Lotion, except it costs half as much. THe only significant ingredient difference is calamine, which is also a drying agent. But if you want calamine, you can probably buy it for $2...

I got my Bye Bye Blemish at CVS and Beauty World. I think it's also available at Walgreens.:

If you have oily skin, you can also try Stridex products. They have facial wipes with salicylic acid that can help eradicate pimples, but also keep your sebum production down so that new ones form less often: stridex dotcom

I think you can get these everywhere. I got mine at CVS and Dollar General.

Re: Acne

If it's just a few here and there, a spot treatment is probably your best bet. Look for spot treatments containing benzoyl peroxide, sulfur, or salicylic acid. They might be drying at first if you're not used to them so phase them in slowly until you're sure how your skin will react. Also everyone's skin is different so you might find that one works better for you than the others. I like benzoyl peroxide best (it comes in 2.5%, 5% or 10% concentrations) but I use sulfur (6%) for the really huge deep cysts.

Re: Acne

i used proactive at night only about 5 times a week to keep breakouts at bay (and to not dry my skin out too much). The rest of the time I just spot treat acne with benzl perox. My husband & I have seen a huge improvement in my skin. The other times I use gentle face wash, natural moisturizer (mychelle daily defense SPF17, yes to carrots daily moisturizing facial lotion, or earth science aloe almond moisturizer with NO SPF) and started using Plantscription eye treatment at night & LOVE IT.

I agree with dannyc that St. Ives can be way to harsh/abrasive for many skin types. Maybe some kind of peel that gently removes the outer layer of skin? I use Mychelle Pumpkin Peel and Peter Thomas Roth's peel. beautylovingirl has suggested Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Daily peel in past threads and so I picked some up the other day. I havent used them yet so I cant truly recommend but I know other people really like them.